Glen Affric Way….Day 1

Tuesday 30th Sept i finished work and got packed for 4 days on the Affric Kintail Way,my friend Chrissie arrived at my house on the train and Wednesday morning i drove us up to Fort William 

The Affric Kintail Way is a 44 mile cross-country route for walkers from Kintail to Loch Ness,with varied landscapes and over 6000 ft of ascent 

 

All packed up with 4 days food and camera i also added the new used drone ive recently bought of my brother,the drive up was good with Rannoch and Glencoe looking stunning under the autumn skies 

Leaving the car at long term parking (Morrisions £15 for a week) we caught the 5.33 pm bus up to Glen shiel arriving in the dark at gone 7pm,as we knocked on the door of our B&B we were ushered in and told to be quiet ! and we were so  so lucky to be shown a visiting Pine Martin,just outside there garden window

We had a nice breakfast and got packed up the day looked nice with cloud on the tops but dry.We had stayed at Otterbun house B&B Very nice

As we were leaving the excellent host,asked where we were off too, on hearing we were walking down to the start he insisted in whizzing us down in his car !  

The start was following an easy landrover track and it was a nice start 10c no wind and dry,the low cloud adding to the scenery and just allowing the odd peak to appear out of the top 

Looking back to the start of the walk 

After an hour or so,with no one around i put the drone up and took a few pics,still nervous only my 2nd flight...our route turns left at the end of this valley 

Can just see us at top of picture 

This bothy is private and locked up but can be rented out for £7 a night by contacting them,too soon on the walk for most,but would work if you could use it on your travel day 

                                                      Looking back to the Kintail Munros 

It was from around here onwards we started to here the stags roaring,i love the sound of the rut just so raw and natural 

The track shrank down to a normal path shortly after crossing the bridge and it was a nice steady easy climb up before the track started to level off again 

            As we rounded one corner we spotted this fella munching away,he was completely unfazed by us and just carried on 

Camban bothy with its own seperate drop toilet was tonights diggs, i choose to pitch outside while Chrissy choose to stay indoors 

We had only seen 3-4 folk on the trail today,but a lad arrived late afternoon,who choose to stay in the other room,so we all sat inside and chatted 

Although not a big day i always find food tastes better outside and this,New to me,meal from LYO really filled a hole,very tasty and one to add to my favorites list 

A nice first day we had a small amount of drizzle but not much nice cool temps and a slight breeze at times ,time for bed 

Safe travels Peter